When this issue goes to print, we will have completed the holiday season celebrations. I hope that you and your families had a wonderful time being together. The older I get, the more I appreciate these opportunities.
While the New Year is fun to celebrate, it also brings with it time to reflect on the past and think about what is coming. Wiser men (and women) than me say that history often is a good indicator of the future. Given several of the legislative changes made to Medicaid program funding, it is reasonable to wonder how everything will play out as federal funding is cut ($1 Trillion over 10 years), and states redetermine how they intend to support the different programs that are important to them as legislators.
I’ve written about this situation and must take the attitude that we will all have to “figure it out” once we understand what is going to happen to our programming. While the same legislators who implemented the reductions in funding have publicly stated that the people we serve are not targeted to have benefits reduced, the “ripple” effect of other financial cuts is the unknown that has all kinds of organizations like Little Friends and others feeling anxious about what will happen next. Having done this for a while, I believe these anxieties are a part of human nature.
Most of us in the social service workplace are waiting, some more patiently than others, to learn how these funding cuts will affect us. It is interesting in some ways that dealing with the unknown allows for all kinds of perspectives and positions to be fabricated, most of which are theoretical as opposed to factual. What we end up doing is building different scenarios such as planning exercises based upon worst, most likely, and the best outcomes to be likely occur. While the process is not magical, it helps take the emotion out of dealing with the unknown.
What remains factual is that the individuals we serve and their families continue to need our support and help depending upon their situation. Organizations like Little Friends and others in town were created to address a need and provide help. While unsettling now, we will figure all of this out, and in the process remain committed to be here for the individuals and communities we serve.
